Higher drinking ages have not aided society (Our Turn column)

Does older drinking age of 21 have a positive or negative effect on society?

Alcohol is the forbidden fruit. Strictly labeled as “an adult beverage,” it holds a certain mystique for adolescents who constantly are told they are not old enough or mature enough to taste its bitter solace.

However, when teens move to college where they no longer are under adult supervision, the mystique disappears rapidly as these inexperienced young adults have unlimited access to alcohol. This sudden exposure, resulting in binge drinking and other health problems, is one reason why the drinking age of 21 has a negative impact.

To be realistic, most people do not wait until 21 to drink. Many are pressured in high school or their early college years to drink alcohol. Afraid of getting caught, they drink in unsafe locations without parental knowledge.

With a lower drinking age, young drinkers will not have to hide; they will be able to consume alcohol under parental supervision.

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According to the World Health Organization, although drinking among 15- and 16-year-olds is more frequent in countries where the legal age is 18 or younger, American teenagers have more occasions of dangerous intoxication. In European countries, studies have shown about 10 percent of all drinking occasions in this age group result in intoxication, while in the United States, this percentage is almost 50 percent. Additionally, according to Students Against Drunk Driving, every month, about 17.4 percent of the underage people in the United States binge drink as opposed to only 10 percent in Europe.

These statistics suggest the older drinking age has not benefited our society the way President Ronald Reagan thought it would when he signed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984.

Gauri Rangrass is a junior at Portage Central High School.

High school students from southwestern Michigan schools serve on
the Kalamazoo Gazette's Young Editorial Staff (YES), which is
coordinated by freelance writer Phyllis Rose. The students pick their
own discussion topics. The views expressed in Our Turn are solely those
of the students, not the Gazette.